Big Sky Guy
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My Lucky Year!
- Thread starter Mule Kick
- Start date
Update time. I’ve been spending a lot of time in my moose unit. I’ve seen a decent number of moose and have been in bow range of 3 different bulls. I called the one in these pics in twice about a week apart. First time he came grunting in to 15 yds with a cow in tow(pic was taken after they moved off a bit) the second time was yesterday morning and he came in to 10 yds! Sadly they’ve all been pretty small and I’m just not quite ready to release an arrow yet.
I stalked in on this bull to about 60 yds while he was bedded with a hot cow. I was less than 60 from them for about 2 hours hoping a bigger one would show up! Closest they got was about 45. Don’t have any good pics of him but you can see his ear and one paddle here. Slightly bigger than the one above but still small.
The cow he was with was definitely in heat and I heard A LOT of moose vocalizations that day which was awesome! I stayed in the area all day and the next but never saw a bigger bull- was sure hoping she would draw one in.
Bull number 3 also came in grunting to about 30 yds but was a dink once again.
I’ve looked over a lot of country but this unit is huge and no way I can cover it all! I’m going to keep looking for now, but I’m starting to wonder how many more little ones I should pass on?
I’ve talked to a lot of hunters and fishermen as well as another tag holder which has been helpful but it seems no one has seen a big one in a year or 2. Everyone says the moose numbers are way down the last few years… I know 1 tag holder already shot a small one, and the guy I talked to said he’s been having about the same experience as me.
For those of you who have hunted shiras before or know moose better than me, how long would you say the rut lasts? Am I taking a gamble in waiting much longer?
FTR I don’t need a giant but am still hoping to get a slightly bigger one than what I’ve been seeing! When it comes down to it I think I would be happy with a smaller one in a week or 3 and I don’t plan to end the season with tag soup. I’m excited about a freezer full of moose meat and odds are I won’t get another MT moose tag again.
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BAKPAKR
Well-known member
From what I have seen in North Idaho, I would think you should have another week or so of decent rut activity.
How long is your season? Dark moose are a lot easier to spot after the leaves drop and there is snow on the ground.
I’ve never really been on here but I saw your post. I had the tag this year and shot a smaller bull, he was the biggest I saw over the time off that I had. Here’s a pic of my bull and then a pic of a bull a coworker saw 1.5 miles before the microburst last weekend. Nothing crazy but a decent bull. I saw 7 bulls over a 3 day stretch all similar to the ones you’ve been seeing. Decided to pull the trigger on mine the second time I saw him.
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Awesome man I’d say yours is a little above average of what I’ve been seeing
you obviously figured out which unit I’m in! I’m curious which side of the microburst you’re talking? I’ve been in that area a lot and don’t think I’ve seen that one, but 3 of the other encounters were right in there. I usually come in from the SE end..Thanks, yeah I wish it would snow! A lot of the unit is heavy pines which makes it tough! I was in a new to me area this morning and found a bunch of sign but didn’t see or hear anything..
He saw them again today at butte cabin trailhead right on the road. If that helpsAwesome man I’d say yours is a little above average of what I’ve been seeing
cgasner1
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That probably made for a very long night
Thursday was a good day! I’ve been doing a bunch of catch up stuff but will try to get this typed up now.
I’ve been hunting moose by myself for the most part. My wife wanted to go more but having a two year old makes it tough! We did some evening road hunts and her sister stayed here one night to babysit so we could go out in the morning but of course didn’t see a single moose that morning.. Austin went with me last Sat. but we didn’t see a thing.
On Thursday I decided to go see if I could turn up the bull that @CB2412 posted above and bro Eric went with me. We covered that area pretty well, stopping to call up and down the creek and couldn’t turn him up so we drove on through to the upper end of the creek. On our way guess what we run into standing a couple yards off the road? A giant ram!! He couldn’t have cared less about the truck and we took tons of pics n video.
He was about 8 miles from the closest unit where you can even get a tag so pretty safe! After briefly considering roping him and doing a “catch and release” in a certain sheep district we figured that might not be the best idea so we let him keep munching on berries and kept moving.
I’ve been hunting moose by myself for the most part. My wife wanted to go more but having a two year old makes it tough! We did some evening road hunts and her sister stayed here one night to babysit so we could go out in the morning but of course didn’t see a single moose that morning.. Austin went with me last Sat. but we didn’t see a thing.
On Thursday I decided to go see if I could turn up the bull that @CB2412 posted above and bro Eric went with me. We covered that area pretty well, stopping to call up and down the creek and couldn’t turn him up so we drove on through to the upper end of the creek. On our way guess what we run into standing a couple yards off the road? A giant ram!! He couldn’t have cared less about the truck and we took tons of pics n video.
He was about 8 miles from the closest unit where you can even get a tag so pretty safe! After briefly considering roping him and doing a “catch and release” in a certain sheep district we figured that might not be the best idea so we let him keep munching on berries and kept moving.
cgasner1
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Come on Paul let’s hear the rest of it
As we were coming out through some private that I’ve been eyeing we were coming past the one ranch and the rancher was out beside the road. I asked him about hunting and he said absolutely, they let about anyone hunt and don’t like the moose! Awesome, why can’t more landowners be like this?!
We drove on and took a midday nap before going back to the ranch around 5. Parked and walked down along the creek where we spent a couple hrs calling and poking about. Didn’t see anything so with about 45 mins left before dark, went back to the truck and drove up the road a bit and walked back in a little ways in some thick, brushy creek bottom.
We let out a few cow calls as we walked in and Eric was beating up brush with the modified moo cow scapula I had rigged up for a ‘raker’ haha..
After a couple hundred yds. I hopped up on a log to get a better look and look off to the left a bit and there’s a moose head and neck! Staring at me at about 150 yards. I slowly got the binos up and saw it was a bull. A decent bull! Eric couldn’t see him but I told him to back off a bit and keep calling.
The moose stood there for probably 5 mins or so and wasn’t coming. I think he had seen just enough of me that he kind of knew something was up. I stepped off the log and talked to Eric a bit. Told him to just keep calling occasionally, I’m gonna try to get closer. I stepped back up on the log and he had disappeared. I dropped down the other side and ducked down and went towards where I had last seen him.
When I was about a 100 yds out I saw him again and he was just kind of standing there but had started moving from left to right. I got some more brush between us and moved closer. There was a little back channel of creek running through there which hid a lot of my sound. When I got close to the creek I ranged him- 62. It looked a bit far yet and light was fading. I wanted to be very sure about my shot and decided I have to be under 50. Thankfully I was wearing my muck boots so I dropped down and waded through the 10- 15 feet of creek. There was a bit of brush on the other side so I stayed low and got closer. Stood up again and there he is quartering away slightly and walking very slowly. 46 yards- ok I can do this! I dialed my sight and drew. Let out the standard “meh” and he stopped and slowly turned his head. (Can moose even move fast?!)
I took my time, leveled my sight and everything felt good- squeeze, thwack! It was dark enough I couldn’t see impact but he just kind of hunched up and did a fast walk about 20-30 yds and stopped.
I could just see his butt behind a little patch of brush so I quickly moved closer and to the right. After a minute or so he kept moving right and came out behind the brush. Ranged again at 33 yards and shot him again (another good thwack) as he was walking very slowly quartering away hard.
He kind of hunched up again and went another 10-15 yds into the next brush. I waited and could just see his antlers. After a bit he took a few more steps and I couldn’t see him. Waited a minute or two and hear some branches snapping then silence.
I backed out and found Eric. He had heard the first shot but never did see the bull. We waited awhile then decided to go back to the truck and talk to the landowner. His daughter’s house ended up being pretty close to where the bull died and she was very excited that I got one! Apparently she doesn’t appreciate the moose eating her trees etc.
She told us we can drive back there if we find him and do what we need to. By this time it had been about 45 mins since last shot and was fully dark. We made our way back there and found lots of blood right away. Followed it into the brush and sure enough he’s laying right where I had heard the last of the crashing branches! He didn’t go more than about 50 yds total.
As he lay
We drove on and took a midday nap before going back to the ranch around 5. Parked and walked down along the creek where we spent a couple hrs calling and poking about. Didn’t see anything so with about 45 mins left before dark, went back to the truck and drove up the road a bit and walked back in a little ways in some thick, brushy creek bottom.
We let out a few cow calls as we walked in and Eric was beating up brush with the modified moo cow scapula I had rigged up for a ‘raker’ haha..
After a couple hundred yds. I hopped up on a log to get a better look and look off to the left a bit and there’s a moose head and neck! Staring at me at about 150 yards. I slowly got the binos up and saw it was a bull. A decent bull! Eric couldn’t see him but I told him to back off a bit and keep calling.
The moose stood there for probably 5 mins or so and wasn’t coming. I think he had seen just enough of me that he kind of knew something was up. I stepped off the log and talked to Eric a bit. Told him to just keep calling occasionally, I’m gonna try to get closer. I stepped back up on the log and he had disappeared. I dropped down the other side and ducked down and went towards where I had last seen him.
When I was about a 100 yds out I saw him again and he was just kind of standing there but had started moving from left to right. I got some more brush between us and moved closer. There was a little back channel of creek running through there which hid a lot of my sound. When I got close to the creek I ranged him- 62. It looked a bit far yet and light was fading. I wanted to be very sure about my shot and decided I have to be under 50. Thankfully I was wearing my muck boots so I dropped down and waded through the 10- 15 feet of creek. There was a bit of brush on the other side so I stayed low and got closer. Stood up again and there he is quartering away slightly and walking very slowly. 46 yards- ok I can do this! I dialed my sight and drew. Let out the standard “meh” and he stopped and slowly turned his head. (Can moose even move fast?!)
I took my time, leveled my sight and everything felt good- squeeze, thwack! It was dark enough I couldn’t see impact but he just kind of hunched up and did a fast walk about 20-30 yds and stopped.
I could just see his butt behind a little patch of brush so I quickly moved closer and to the right. After a minute or so he kept moving right and came out behind the brush. Ranged again at 33 yards and shot him again (another good thwack) as he was walking very slowly quartering away hard.
He kind of hunched up again and went another 10-15 yds into the next brush. I waited and could just see his antlers. After a bit he took a few more steps and I couldn’t see him. Waited a minute or two and hear some branches snapping then silence.
I backed out and found Eric. He had heard the first shot but never did see the bull. We waited awhile then decided to go back to the truck and talk to the landowner. His daughter’s house ended up being pretty close to where the bull died and she was very excited that I got one! Apparently she doesn’t appreciate the moose eating her trees etc.
She told us we can drive back there if we find him and do what we need to. By this time it had been about 45 mins since last shot and was fully dark. We made our way back there and found lots of blood right away. Followed it into the brush and sure enough he’s laying right where I had heard the last of the crashing branches! He didn’t go more than about 50 yds total.
As he lay
Ready for the good part? We could drive to within tow strap distance! I definitely wasn’t expecting that and had a whole kill kit with big game bags etc ready to go. But hey I’m not complaining! I texted my wife and brothers on the Zoleo that we would still need help to get him on the truck and then we took a bunch of pics that I think turned out decent considering the light (or lack thereof) that we had to work with. After that we got to gutting this sucker and were just finishing up as the rest of the crew showed up.
We drug him out to the little clearing with the truck and took some more pics. Big thanks to my family for all their help! And it was awesome that my wife and little girl could be there! My wife has been absolutely awesome with keeping things going at home and looking after the kiddo while I’m hunting a lot this year! (Thanks honey!)
Nikki (my daughter) wasn’t to sure about the moose but poked his eyes and nose and thought that was interesting haha!
Nikki (my daughter) wasn’t to sure about the moose but poked his eyes and nose and thought that was interesting haha!
